Readalog by Neha

Readalog #11 | 'Tis the Season

#11・ Dec 22, 2016

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Readalog by Neha

December 22 · Issue #11 · View online

I collect words the way some people collect coins or butterfly specimens.
And this is where I share some of them with you.

It is my birthday! And quite uncharacteristically, I am very excited about it. Well, who knew growing older could be fun, too? :D So much to be thankful for, so much to celebrate. It is almost scary how growing up isn’t scary anymore.

Anyhoo. Happy birthday to me! And happy holidays to you!

As always, I would love it if you share this with people who you think might enjoy reading Readalog. Thank you! :)

From Around the Web

Headscarves. Perhaps the most controversial piece of clothing, ever to be outraged about. In this fascinating longread, the writers explore the complicated history of headscarves, locating it in the Headwrap Expo. Yes, you read that right. An expo for headwraps! Across the room, women are wearing cloth on their heads for very different reasons. The only thing that is constant is the inconsistency, that over thousands of years, the headscarf has meant many different things to many different people, shifting and transforming, sometimes from obligation to choice, from one era to the next.
There are two kinds of people in the world - one, who play the Žižek Game (even if you don’t have a name for it), and the ones who get played. Here’s a delightful telling of the game, by one of our tribe (yes, guilty!). Read and chuckle, if you’re a part of the tribe too; read and frown, if you ever got played!
Here’s the eloquent Sam Miller writing about the Delhi he remembers and the Delhi that is. Read this piece, for even if you disagree with the docility he argues that Delhi now suffers from, there’s enough nuance, to remind you of what makes the city what it is.

Book of the Week

The Gene: An Intimate History. Siddhartha Mukherjee.

You can only decipher the meaning of a sentence by deciphering every individual word - yet a sentence carries more meaning than any of the individual words.

In Three Words: Humongous. Compelling. Vivid.

Why Should You Read It: To know about stuff, quite simply. There are places where it gets scary, and the book becomes all science, science and more science. (Well, it is science, so shouldn’t be such a surprise!) But what makes it a brilliant piece of written work is the manner in which the author hand-holds you in the complicated world of genetics. And this is where the book wins. Read it for an approachable and engaging insight into the subjects, without getting bogged down by it.

Beyond the Book: The author is a cancer physician and researcher, and his first book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer won the 2011 Pulitzer prize for general nonfiction.

Buy the book here.

Word Wise

endotic

adj. the opposite of exotic, it refers to anything so familiar that we fail to register it - paper towels, or the kind of bed we sleep in. Generally, only outsides notice these particulars, which produces something of a paradox: those who are least at home in a culture often perceive it the best.

This extract about the infra-ordinary explains the word better than I ever could. Read it.

#FF

@mansigrover. Mansi is probably one of most humble people I know, and my favourite December girl. A fellow DMB fan, she is an inspiration for those who keep dreaming of living life on their own terms. Her timeline is a mixed bag of good vibes, adorable cat pictures and feisty rants - you don’t want to not follow her.

#OnLoop

Happy Birthday by Diljit Dosanjh. Haha. Okay, confession time. Diljit Dosanjh’s uber sexy voice is one of my numerous guilty pleasures! And what better way to bring in my birthday than to listen to him singing ‘happy birthday’? :D And you all can rid of the guilt of not buying me a present, by listening to this song. On loop.

P.S.

Bringing Letters Back

docs.google.com – Share

Letters. Ah. The very word evokes nostalgia and an old-world charm. And feeding this nostalgia, I’m planning to write letters, throughout 2017.

As ever,

with warmth and gratitude

Neha

(@gargneha)

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